European bourses mixed after new North Korea sanctions

Stock markets in Europe traded mixed Monday morning, failing to follow a rally seen in other global bourses after a stronger-than-expected jobs report in the U.S. last week.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was flat with sectors and major bourses trading in different directions.

Basic resources outperformed its peers in early trade, up by more than 1 percent. This after Chinese iron ore prices jumped 7 percent on Monday on fears of a supply shortage in the winter. Arcelormittal jumped nearly 3 percent in early trade. Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were also up by more than 1 percent.

The autos sector was also higher after strong earnings reports in Japanese carmakers. Toyota jumped 2 percent after raising its earnings outlook.

Looking at individual stocks, the Italian lender BPM jumped nearly 3.5 percent in early deals after reports that it could earn as much as 1.1 billion euros ($ 1.3 billion) from the sale of its asset management arm.

Dutch group PostNL said its full-year profits would come in at the lower end of its forecasts after regulators announced that it needs to share its distribution network with other operators. The stock was at the bottom of the European benchmark down by 6 percent.

With the earnings season mostly over, investors will be watching out for new data reports. A consumer price index in Switzerland rose 0.3 percent year-on-year in July, data out on Monday morning showed. The U.K.’s Halifax price index for July showed an increase of 2.1 percent in house prices in the second quarter of the year, compared to the same period last year. Prices were up by 0.4 percent on the month.

Sanctions on North Korea

Meanwhile, the United Nations decided to implement new sanctions against North Korea over its intercontinental ballistic missile tests. The sanctions could slash $3 billion of the country’s annual export revenue, Reuters reported. In a telephone call on Sunday, President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed to apply maximum pressure on Pyongyang. In China, state media reported that the U.S. needed to curb its “moral arrogance” over North Korea, also according to Reuters.

In commodity markets, oil prices edged lower on Monday morning but were still at a nine-week high after strong jobs data and a slight drop in rig counts in the U.S. Brent was trading at $52.13 per barrel and WTI was being sold at $49.33.

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